Momentum. It’s the watchword of the week for Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul.

Last night, Senator Paul and a small group of watchful Republicans of a libertarian bent forced the expiration of key provisions of the PATRIOT Act. Specifically, the NSA’s bulk data collection program that bristled privacy advocates. Paul explains in his editorial for USA Today:

Congress will this week force the president to end his illegal collection of all American phone records. This is a victory for defenders of privacy.

The Fourth Amendment requires that government searches be individualized. Collecting all Americans’ phone records all the time indiscriminately is what our Founders fought against when they objected to general warrants.

Some will ask: But how will we catch terrorists without this program? My reply: with the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment allows probing searches as long as the request is for an individual’s records and as long as there is probable cause of a crime.

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Reason.lol has come out with a very important music video illustrating the latest Obamacare scandal starring Jonathan “the stupidity of the American voter” Gruber:

Don’t let me catch you snoring
Making government bigger is never boring
Our CBO strategy’s named “Bill Cosby”
we’re looking for an improper scoring

When folks ask what’s in you lie through the tooth
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Our ideas are so good we can’t tell the truth
That’s right right right right right

But won’t people read it in three years or so?
My, my, my, my, my, my
Who’d look inside something that many years old?

I don’t know what’s worse: Some bipartisan elitist prick feels that it’s officially open season on sheep, or some libertarian elitists pricks are making music videos to bring it bubbling into the pop culture of sheep.

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If you click the button on the left, they just got you. Your card will have $9.45 on it, meaning you will get 3 rides and end up with $1.95. That is a great deal for the MTA. They get all the money from every rider who does that, and they get the interest on that until you refill again and repeat the cycle.

Let’s say you don’t take the bait. You click MetroCard. Then you get this screen with three new short cuts:

Three quick options. But wait a minute. One button leaves you with the same $9.45 card, and gives a remainder of $1.95 after just three uses. The next one is even more frustrating: you end up with a $19.95 card, leaving a remainder after 7 uses of $2.45! That’s right, the nickel we were talking about earlier. The last option does not leave you much better off. You’ll get a $40.95 card, which leads to $0.95 on your card after you use 16 rides. So all three buttons presented leave quite a bit of “insufficient fare” on the card.

and remember these three magic numbers: $9.55, $19.05 and $38.10. That’s right. Never use the shortcuts. Just type in one of those numbers.

Once you do, you’ll see your excess balances nearly vanish once you apply the 5% bonuses:

Congratulations to the author for decoding how New York’s government run transportation system systematically screws riders. They’ll definitely be changing the algorithm soon.

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He’s been doing a great web series of inspirational videos for a while, but this one is simply fantastic in helping anyone who refuses to wake up to their own self-destruction. Tyrese is more than just a great actor, he advocates blunt truth and genuine compassion.

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I did it once and can now officially scrub it from my bucket list: being on an internet streaming show with more than three episodes.

I was the featured guest of a “decentralized” anarchist and troublemaker conversation AKA episode #38 of Chris Bennett’s Beer and Bullshit Show. An episode that eventually went completely off the rails — “that’s bullshit,” they exclaimed — I presume because no one involved has a legit Wikipedia entry and probably never will (wait, what?).

But before it went completely sideways with salty jokes, crosstalk and the part where the sunglasses happened, I joked around with James Babb (We Won’t Fly) and Kirsten Tynan (Fully Informed Jury Association or FIJA) on Google Hangouts (whose video editor is fired) to talk about beer and a wide range of libertarian/anarchist topics. Pretty much the ADHD libertarian Internet show you expect: slightly less dead air than secret service radios during a White House fence jumping. see more…

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The early returns in 2013 were what actually spelled early trouble for Democrats in Colorado.

That was the year of our first recall. On the chopping block was Colorado state senate majority leader John Morse (Colorado Springs) and Angela Giron (Pueblo). As the leadership of onerous new gun legislation laughed at town halls — a gleeful nod to Obama’s vigorous gun hatred combined with populism and ambivalence to limited government control — petitioners got to work.

The recall passed, Giron and Morse lost their seats in safe Democrat districts.

Exit polls showed that pro-gun democrats had been the ones to break ranks. Republicans smelled blood in the air. see more…

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Many people don’t know that my very first article ever written was on politics. Today marks the twenty year anniversary since my first mass monologue was published and discussed (or derided, at least at the high school I attended). To be sure, it’s full of embarrassment and bad grammar, and has more twists than M. Night Shyamalan running a churro stand.

Without further ado, here’s the full article reproduced in digital form: see more…

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There were two large and related news stories from the Supreme Court today.

First up, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 (PDF) that some Obamacare provisions can indeed be ignored by some employers who object to it on religious grounds:

Attempting to expand religious expression protections to small business owners without significantly disrupting the rules that govern for-profit corporations, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Obama administration must exempt closely-held firms like Hobby Lobby from a rule requiring large companies to help pay for their employees’ birth control.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the court ruled that closely-held firms like Hobby Lobby are protected by Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The RFRA dictates that an individual’s religious expression shouldn’t be “substantially burdened” by a law unless there is a “compelling government interest.” see more…

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The Washington Timespicked up on our “stunning” announcement of the new LNC chair:

Republicans and Democrats, who pine to woo the all-important young, restless and disengaged demographic, have some serious competition for this sizable voting bloc, which now numbers about 45 million.

In what onlookers described as a “stunning” upset during their recent national convention, the Libertarian Party elected Nicholas Sarwark as their chairman. He is 34, hails from Denver, serves as a deputy public defender, is a prolific blogger and is intent on positioning the Libertarian Party as “the only choice for pro-freedom young people.”

The party itself is getting feisty. The 43-year-old organization also intends to be recognized as the official “real deal” libertarians, which may not sit well with a spate of assorted Republicans, tea partyers and independents who also claim influence with the growing “less government, lower taxes, more freedom” crowd. The articulate Mr. Sarwark himself may be a serious draw for undecided or disengaged folk out there.

Libertarians and Democrats have seemingly been the only parties able to escape their middle-aged comfort zones — to attract and register younger voters.

If that fervor for unblemished voters emerges as a core theme of Sarwark’s leadership, it could prove to be a problematic second front for Republicans who are already struggling in this key demographic.

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Columbus, Ohio was the scene of a stunning upset this evening as the delegation to the 2014 Libertarian Party National Convention voted the leadership position of Libertarian National Committee Chair over to 34-year old Coloradan Nicholas Sarwark.

Sarwark — who was most recently the Vice Chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party — was pitted against incumbent Chair Geoffrey Neale, Clark County Nevada LP Chair Brett Pojunis, Sharchild, and of course anarchist favorite “none of the above”.

Neale trailed the first round by seven percent, only to have the gap widen to thirteen percentage points in a second-round runoff against the young contender.

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